News Releases

REF NO.: 290

SUBJECT:

Doyle House to remain a single-gender dorm

DATE:

April 11, 2005

Housing officials at Memorial University have decided to stay with tradition and keep Doyle House as a single-gender dorm. A few weeks ago, Dr. Brian Johnston, director of Housing, Food and Conference Services, announced that he and his team were exploring a range of options in light of increasing numbers of female applicants to residence spaces, and in the decline in the numbers of male students looking for single-gender accommodations. The conversion of Doyle to a single-gender house was one alternative his team was considering.

However, students living in Doyle House were vocal about their desire to see the house remain a single-gender house, the last male-only residence on the campus. Dr. Johnston noted that the process of evaluating the housing needs of students is a consultative process. "We regularly listen to our students as part of the management of our housing facilities," Dr. Johnston said. "We are confident that we can address the needs of incoming students while still respecting the concerns of current Doyle House students."

This recent consultative process included an advisory committee and feedback solicited from individual students themselves. Typically, students who wish to stay on campus can choose among co-ed facilities, single-gender houses, and floors within co-ed facilities which are designated single-gender.

"The university is currently studying the possibilities of building more residences to respond to increasing demands," Dr. Johnston said. "We need more residence spaces and we need newer, more modern types of facilities. The university's latest revised master plan includes proposals related to student residence needs."

In 2002, with help from the successful, government-supported capital fundraising campaign, The Opportunity Fund, the university was able to add 220 residence rooms in a new chalet-style residence at Grenfell College, Memorial's west coast campus located in Corner Brook. Over 1,500 students live in residences on the university's St. John'scampus, which include dorm-style rooms and apartment complexes.